Consultation on child care funding

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Larry Anthony today announced that Community Link Australia has been selected to manage the consultations around the redevelopment of the Child Care Support Broadband.

“In September this year, I announced that I would examine the current funding arrangements for child care the Commonwealth provides, other than Child Care Benefit, for child care services and support services. This funding allocation is known as the Child Care Support Broadband.

“As part of that process, child care services, children’s services peak bodies and families will be invited to participate. I am confident Community Link Australia will do an excellent job in managing this consultation process.

“This process commenced last week with Community Link convening a one-day Establishment Forum to engage key stakeholders on the process and gain their feedback on the best way of working with children’s services during the redevelopment.

“I am pleased to have received such a positive response from the participants who attended the forum,” Mr Anthony said.

“In the 22 years of my experience in child care, the sector has never been involved in the design of a consultation strategy. On this occasion the involvement of the Child Care Reference Group and others has allowed for input to the design of the process, which should make it more effective,” Jo Comans, Executive Director, National Family Day Care Council of Australia said.

“The general community needs to understand what good child care is really all about and this project is one way to get that story told,” Martin Kemp, President of the Australian Confederation of Child Care said.

“I would like to thank representatives of the children’s services and support services for their enthusiasm and active participation in the forum and for agreeing to lead the process,” Mr Anthony said.

Broad community consultations are planned to commence from February 2003.